News

This section provides news about PASCAL together with significant developments in policy and research relating to the areas of interest to PASCAL. It is based on regular scanning of policy, practice and academic literature, including web-based sources.

We invite readers to submit items for consideration. Please send your contributions to our Submissions Administrator.

GRALE and PIAAC: (De)constructing the world of adult learning and education

Taking adult literacy as the central theme, UNESCO and the OECD recently released two international reports: the Global Report on Adult Learning and Education, second edition (GRALE II) by UNESCO Institute for Lifelong Learning (UIL) and the first results of the Programme for the International Assessment of Adult Competencies (PIAAC) by the OECD in July and October this year. Although both reports aim at altering the behaviours and actions of governments towards adult learning and education, they present substantive differences in the way of constructing issues and identifying solutions. In fact, GRALE II suggests ’rethinking literacy’ and PIAAC offers ‘skills outlook’ for the 21st century. This article presents the origins, objectives and differences of these two reports to help understand them and reflect on their policy implications.

Learning Cities 2020 - PASCAL will pursue four strands of activity

Following the success of the Cities Learning Together conference, PASCAL with partners aims to develop four strands of activity in the future, under the overall banner of Learning Cities 2020. They are as follows:

Final eBook release of Cities Learning Together Precedings

The Cities Learning Together conference was convened in Hong Kong in November 2013, by the EU Centre at RMIT in conjunction with PASCAL International Observatory and the Hong Kong Institute of Education. Together with seven other partners, the conference was designed to focus on major challenges facing cities and communities within cities, and to explore the ways in which learning can assist in addressing those challenges. The concept of ‘learning cities’ has been the focus of this kind of thinking for some time, initially in Europe, with strong support from the OECD and the European Union, and more recently in Asia. The PASCAL International Exchanges (PIE) program has been one site where these ideas have been explored directly, while UNESCO conducted the International Conference on Learning Cities in October 2013 in Beijing, China.

International Conference on Learning Cities / Conférence internationale sur les villes apprenantes / Conferencia Internacional sobre Ciudades del Aprendizaje

Following the discussions in the Drafting Committee and their adoption in outline form at the final plenary session, we have finalised the Beijing Declaration on Building Learning Cities, Key Features of Learning Cities: Introductory Note and the Key Features of Learning Cities (attached). Please disseminate these documents in your constituencies/networks. We hope that these documents will help you to develop strategies that promote the building of learning cities.

11th PASCAL Conference - Image Gallery

The 11th PASCAL Conference has just finished, here is a selection of images from the event in Hong Kong:

Click the image to visit site

Click the image to visit site

Click the image to visit site

Click the image to visit site

Click the image to visit site

Click the image to visit site

Click the image to visit site

X